PAM. 

JAPAN 


^pi^e  Hoige  of  ttje 
JapTalii  Mission 


Resting  upon  the  beautiful  slope  of  a 
range  of  mountains  in  the  rear  and  front- 
ing a lovely  bay,  sixteen  miles  wide,  is  the 
cradle  and  home  of  our  Japan  Mission.  In 
the  year  1887  R^v.  James  W.  Lambuth 
and  wife,  who  went  from  the  bounds  of 
the  Mississippi  Conference  to  China  and 
then  to  Japan,  rented  a two-story  house 
for  missionary,  work.  For  years  that  work 
went  on  in  almost  every  room  of  the  house. 
It  was  in  the  dining  room  that  the  first 
Church  and  Sunday  school  were  organized. 
It  was  here  that  a Missionary  and  Church 
Extension  Board  was  established,  with 
Mrs.  J.  W.  Lambuth  as  Secretary,  wliich, 
through  her  efficient  service  and  that  of 
her  husband,  led  to  the  building  of  many  a 
little  chapel  around  the  shores  of  the  In- 
land Sea.  It  was  in  this  very  room,  which 
has  become  a sacred  spot,  that  some  of 


the  early  converts  to  Christianity  were  bap- 
tized— among  them  Rev.  Y.  Yoshioka, 
President  of  our  College  in  Kobe,  and  later 
on  his  mother.  The  latter,  an  ardent  Bud- 
dhist, came  to  the  baptism  of  her  son  in- 
tending to  object  publicly.  Shrinking  al- 
most out  of  sight  in  a corner,  she  heard 
the  service,  saw  the  laying  on  of  hands  by 
the  venerable  missionary,  and  caught  some- 
thing of  the  significance  of  the  rite  per- 
formed in  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of 
the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  She  was 
unnerved  and  disarmed.  Returning  to  her 
home,  she  removed  the  household  god's 
from  oflf  the  shelf,  placed  them  in  a box, 
and  set  them  in  the  back  yard,  resolving  she 
would  nevermore  bow  down  to  these  dumb 
images.  Her  devoted  son,  beginning  to 
hold  family  prayer,  soon  drew  his  mother 
into  the  circle  of  his  intercessions,  and  she 
in  turn  gave  her  heart  to  Jesus  and  was 
baptized  by  the  same  missionary  who 
had  so  impressed  her  in  that  first  service. 
She  is  to-day  the  happiest  Christian  in  all 
Japan,  and  has  literally  prayed  up  the 
church  upon  the  college  campus,  having 
besought  God  for  years  that  some  one 
would  give  a sum  sufficient  to  erect  a 
building.  When  God  answered  her  prayer, 
[2] 


she  declared  that  she  could  now  die  happy. 
It  was  in  that  same  dining  room  that  the 
school  for  Bible  women  was  organized, 
which  has  been  styled  the  Lambuth  Me- 
morial Training  School,  in  which  a score 
and  more  of  Japanese  women  are  being 
qualified  for  a ministry  of  the  Word  and 
of  a helping  hand  among  their  own  people. 
It  was  in  this  home,  in  an  upper  room,  that 
Rev.  James  W.  Lambuth  breathed  his  last, 
uttering  the  words  which  still  ring  through 
our  Southern  Methodist  Church : “I  die  at 
my  post.  The  work  to  be  done  is  great. 
Send  more  men.”  Fitting  words  were 
these  with  which  to  close  a life  of  thirty- 
two  years  spent  in  missionary  service  in 
China  and  eight  years  in  Japan.  He  had 
a passion  for  souls,  because  he  had  a pas- 
sion for  Christ,  and  those  last  hours  of  suf- 
fering were  also  hours  of  prayer  for  the 
redemption  of  the  millions  who  sit  in 
darkness  and  in  the  “valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death.” 

The  property  which  also  includes  what  is 
called  the  Palmore  Institute  or  Night 
School  for  Young  Men,  and  which  has 
been  a constant  feeder  to  our  Kobe  Church, 
passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  mission,  as 
it  was  only  rented.  During  Bi,shop  Cand- 
[3] 


ler’s  visit  to  Japan  it  was  possible  to  secure 
this  property  by  purchase,  and  the  Board 
gave  its  consent.  The  sum  of  $6,000  is  re- 
quired to  complete  the  purchase.  When 
this  amount  has  been  raised,  the  entire  site 
and  building,  including  residence  and  splen- 
did night  school,  will  be  ours  without  in- 
debtedness. At  the  recent  session  of  the 
Mississippi  Conference  the  laymen  present 
agreed  to  undertake  to  raise  the  foregoing 
amount.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  under  their 
leadership,  by  voluntary  contributions 
through  personal  effort  of  Conference, 
District  and  Church  and  Lay  Leaders,  one- 
half  of  this  amount  will  be  raised  by  March 
31,  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year  of  the  Board 
of  Missions,  and  the  other  half  paid  in  by 
the  ensuing  Annual  Conference.  What 
more  beautiful  tribute  can  Mississippi 
Methodism  pay  to  the  memory  of  its  own 
heroic  and  trusted  missionaries?  What 
greater  service  can  it  render  than  the  re- 
establishment of  this  pivotal  point  upon 
which  so  much  of  the  past  has  turned,  and 
from  which  many  forces  shall  go  forth  for 
the  uplift  of  the  nations? 

Board  of  Missions,  M.  E.  Church,  South,  Nashville,  Tenn. 


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